OFFSPRING GENDER RATIO AFTER SPERM CO-INCUBATION WITH ENDOMETRIAL CELLS PRIOR IVF

Abstract

To observe and compare the offspring gender ratio in couples who had co-incubation of spermatozoa with human endometrial cells prior IVF and patients with conventionally performed IVF. Observational. Data on the offspring gender of 106 couples who had sperm co-incubation with the partners’ endometrial cells prior IVF (study group) and 104 couples who reached labour after conventional IVF (control group) was recorded. Cells obtained from endometrial biopsies were cultivated in DMEM F12 10% FBS for 48 hours at 37ºC and 5%CO2. On the day of the follicular punction washed semen was incubated for 2 hours with the confluent endometrial cells followed by conventional IVF protocol. Statistical analysis was performed by Chi-square test using SPSS v.21. P<0.05 was considered significant. The conventional IVF group and the sperm co-incubation group were comparable in age, BMI, oocyte quality and number of unsuccessful ART procedures. The female to male ratio in the conventional IVF group was 1:1.08 (female:male) with 48.1% females and 51.9% males. Live births after sperm co-incubation with endometrial cells prior IVF resulted in significantly more female than male babies (63.2% vs. 36.8%, respectively, p<0.05) with gender ratio 1.71:1 (female:male). When the gender ratios were compared between the two groups, female proportion was significantly higher in the co-incubation group in comparison to the control group (p<0.05). Our data show that spermatozoa co-incubated with endometrial cells prior IVF skews the sex ratio of the offspring to favor females. This observation suggests that co-incubation of spermatozoa with endometrial cell culture may lead to preferential hyperactivation of human spermatozoa bearing X chromosome. More studies are needed to analyze the effect of the endometrial cell culture on spermatozoa.